Book Club September Review: Atonement

[bettys]

Right, I confess I didn't get round to this one, so who would like to comment?

I didn't read it this month, but I have read it and absolutely loved it. I love all of McEwans books though, so I am abit biased. I hear they are making a film of it soon, which I'm not convinced would work as so much of the narration was the thoughts of the characters. Sorry, abit of a general starting off point for this discussion but I've read so many books since its hard to talk in detail!!

Good but not that good! I finished this one a few weeks back. As usual, it is full of carefully drawn characters and seems to be very well researched (not a medical historian so wouldn?t know but seems good). However, dare I suggest that some of the dialogue seems a little flaky and inconsistent at times? (Sorry, Mr McEwan) Maybe it is more that the descriptive scenery is so well done that it seems out of step? (A bit like having a film beautifully shot in the most wonderful landscape with talented actors but working with a rather average script.) I also felt that the pace of the story was a little erratic at times. I know why he dragged out the time scale in places but I found it all a little frustrating and caught myself speed reading to move it on a bit on a few occasions.

I sound really critical but I think that I had such high expectations and saved this book to read when I had some quality time to myself and it was good just not as good as I had hoped...

I think the idea was that the pace of the book should echo the pace of life - eg slow and dreamy before the war, and speeding up as events took over. I'm also not convinced this work, and the ending was like a kick in the teeth, which I'm sure was deliberate but I didn't like it, all the same.

yep, the ending was an unnecessary slap in the face. Although a happy ending would have been inappropriate I agree that it was a little OTT.
I admit that the pace was dreamy like a summer nothing-day, aloha. Perhaps my state of mind when reading those passages were making me a little impatient. Maybe I have missed his point and he has cleverly manipulated it so that the reader does experience a heightened awareness of the unusually slow timescale. Just because my reaction of his use of pace was a negative one should not automatically be a criticism of the author - I feel a little bit guilty now!

I read this book earlier in the year and I confess I can't remember the ending!! I loved the slow pace at the beginning and the way he wrote about the war years seemed very vivid, to me. I almost thought I was there, when the chap (forgotten the names too!) was escaping at Dunkirk and that awful bit when the woman was killed by a bomb. Overall, I enjoyed it a lot.

I'm about to finish it today so please don't reveal the ending anyone!

Just finished it and am still reeling a little from the ending! Didn't spot that coming. Did work out the rapist straightaway though. Was that deliberate to make it seem as though you have spotted the twist before the final one, I wonder?

Good point Tinker, I reckon that it was probably deliberate. I hadn?t thought about it before but it does make sense - unfortunately for me, knowing just added to my frustration but then I guess this is exactly what he wanted to feel. It also helps to balance the ending a little if you know what I mean.

i finished this recently and agree with the comments here. not as good as i'd hoped and rather poorly structured - the dramatic climax comes when turner is arrested, i found the rest of the book rather a let down. slap in the face ending didn't increase the literary merit for me.